Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Observations about Platform by Andy Scheer

What must an author bring to the table to create a potentially award-winning nonfiction book?

In the past few months I had a chance to find out, as part of a team of judges reviewing entries in a prominent national contest for books published in 2011.

I can't speak about the winning book; the results won't be released for months, even to the judges. Not can I speak of all the entries; each judge saw only a portion of the books being evaluated. But I can discuss some patterns in the nineteen I assessed.

One element that jumped out, for nearly every entry, was platform. Consider the kinds these authors had.

First were the megachurch pastors. They accounted for six of the nineteen titles. One author/pastor was at the celebrity level—with a bio listing 100 million copies of his books in print. But all the others each headed a congregation larger than most towns in eastern Colorado. One was pastor of “the fifth largest church in America.” Another was pastor of “one of the fastest-growing churches in North America.” Not an easy platform to build.

Next came four books by national ministry leaders (one co-authored with a megachurch pastor). Each had a large national constituency built around their topics. They regularly spoke around the country, sometimes internationally, on matters related to their latest book. One author's bio said, “She speaks to over 500,000 teens a year.” I'd call that a platform.

Next came three books from people who were simply multi-published, nationally recognized experts and speakers on their topic. All three had been speaking and writing in their field for at least twenty-five years. If that's a platform to which you aspire, I hope you've already started paying your dues.

Next came three books by celebrities, each of a different flavor. Each was also a joint effort, co-written by a professional author. One was “written” by a United States senator, one by a professional athlete, and one by a former Planned Parenthood clinic director who made national headlines when she switched sides and was hauled into court. Most of us can dismiss the idea of achieving a celebrity platform built around politics or athletics (or other forms of mass entertainment). And do we really want the pain of getting caught up in a matter that attracts the national press? Platform at a price.

Finally came three books by people whose level of platform seems most nearly attainable.

One book, by a mother and daughter, relates “The Journey of a Child with Autism Who Cannot Speak but Finds Her Voice.” Of the author's three children, her bio says “two … are profoundly affected by autism.” But she is also “a venture capitalist investing in high-tech companies, and she sits on both corporate and nonprofit boards.” Maybe that helped her garner the front-cover endorsement by Tom Brokaw.

Another book, a daily devotional with stories from the Vietnam War, comes from a decorated war veteran and retired Marine Corps officer—who also served in the White House. He's a lay minister and is active with an international evangelism organization. He's a full-time writer, and this narrowly targeted book was his third published book. He built his unique platform through decades of dedicated effort.

The last book is the work of an author who may never occupy the spotlight. But his writing (and his effort to promote it) earned front- and back-cover endorsements from Randy Alcorn, J. I. Packer, singer/songwriter Andrew Peterson, and Wheaton College Professor of English Leland Ryken. The book is titled Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books. His back-cover bio describesTony Reinke as “a former journalist now serving as a theological researcher, writer, and blogger.” Checking Amazon this morning, his book has seventy-four customer reviews: forty-three with five stars and twenty-six with four stars. Its current sales ranking was 31,589. I hope that's enough to keep it in print.

4 comments:

Oh, platforms are so tough. I'm a Sunday school teacher and mom who writes faith-filled journeys for kids. Despite that, I don't speak at churches or other Christian events. I'm usually in the public school system where I can't discuss the content of my book. Gee, that seems counterproductive when I write it all out.

It used to be that platform was only important with non-fiction but these days it is important on fiction as well. I have had a number of turndowns on projects where they said, "it's a good story, but they just don't have enough platform."

Terry's comment sparks an excellent question. With thousands of would-be fiction authors Twittering and blogging in hopes of building platforms, which other effective methods can fiction writers use to avoid the fate of Terry mentions?

MEET THE HARTLINE AGENTS

Joyce Hart, Owner and principal agent

Joyce Hart, owner and principal agent of Hartline Literary Agency has been a literary agent for more than a decade. She was formerly the vice president of marketing of an inspirational publishing company and as the president of Hartline Marketing has nearly thirty-two years of successful experience marketing and promoting books. Joyce has been a pioneer in selling high-quality fiction to the inspirational market and has built an excellent rapport with leading inspirational publishers. A member of ACFW, and the National Association of Professional Women, Joyce is a graduate of Open Bible College, Des Moines, IA now merged with Eugene Bible College in Eugene, Oregon. Joyce is based at Hartline Literary's Pittsburgh headquarters.

Diana Flegal, Agent

Diana currently lives in Asheville NC. A Bible College major in Missions and Anthropology, Diana has been a medical missionary to Haiti, a women's speaker and bible study leader. One of her life's highlights has been teaching apologetics to high school students as preparatory for college. Avid reader and intuitive editor, Diana's represents nonfiction and well written fiction. She has a passion for getting great writers published.

Jim Hart, Agent

Jim Hart is looking for authors who can write unique and engaging fictional suspense, romance, women’s fiction, historical fiction and some sci-fi. Jim is also interested in non-fiction regarding church growth, Christian living, and self-help. Keep in mind that non-fiction topics require a certain level of credentials, experience and expertise. The author will need an appropriate platform to present a non-fiction proposal.

Currently Jim is not looking at children’s, young adult or Biblical fiction proposals.

He holds a degree in Production Journalism and worked for twenty years in direct mail advertising before taking a job with an urban social services agency, where he worked for twelve years. All during his professional career, Jim has served with the local church doing youth ministry and music/worship ministry. He is a credentialed minister with the Assemblies of God, and serves part-time as Worship Pastor in his local church in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Linda Glaz, Agent

Linda is an experienced editor, reviewer and writer, and for a couple of years was a final reader for Wild Rose Press, then for White Rose Publishing and she worked as an editorial assistant for Hartline Agent Terry Burns. She has judged for numerous contests including the Genesis for the American Christian Fiction Writers, as well as the Emily Award for the West Houston Chapter of the Romance Writers of America. She has been on the faculty for Faithwriters.com annual conference, Maranatha, and is slated for numerous others in 2013. Linda understands writers because she's a writer herself with 4 books releasing in 2013.linda@hartlineliterary.comhttp://lindaglaz.blogspot.com/

Andy Scheer, Agent

Andy has a wealth of experience as a publishing professional with over 18 years as the managing editor of Moody Magazine, 8 years as the managing editor for the Christian Writer’s Guild, and as a free-lance writer and editor. He is a frequent instructor at writing conferences around the country. A journalism graduate from Colorado State University, he also attended Denver Seminary. Andy is a consummate professional and will be a great addition to the Hartline team.